EurekAlert! - National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 19-Nov-2012

Archives of Internal Medicine
Stress management counselling in the primary care setting is rare
While stress may be a factor in 60 to 80 percent of all visits to primary care physicians, only three percent of patients actually receive stress management counseling, say researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

National Institutes of Health, Harvard

Public Release: 19-Nov-2012

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
'Different kind of stem cell' possesses attributes favoring regenerative medicine
A research team at Georgetown say the new and powerful cells they first created in the laboratory a year ago constitute a new stem-like state of adult epithelial cells. They report that these new stem-like cells do not don't produce tumors when they grow in the laboratory, as the other stem cells do, and why they are stable, producing the kind of cells researchers want them to.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 19-Nov-2012

Proceedings of the National Acadamy of Sciences
Experimental drug improves memory in mice with multiple sclerosis
Johns Hopkins researchers report the successful use of a form of MRI to identify what appears to be a key biochemical marker for cognitive impairment in the brains of people with multiple sclerosis. In follow-up experiments on mice with a rodent form of MS, researchers were able to use an experimental compound to manipulate that same marker and dramatically improve learning and memory.

NIH/National Institute of Mental Health, NIH/National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering

Public Release: 19-Nov-2012

Journal of Clinical Investigation
A code of silence in acute myeloid leukemia
In a study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers led by Daniel Tenen at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center found that a transcriptional regulator known as C/EBPG was highly expressed in a subset of AML samples that had an epigenetically silenced C/EBPA gene.

National Institutes of Health, European Hematology Association

Public Release: 19-Nov-2012

Journal of Clinical Investigation
Immune cell migration is impeded in Huntington's disease
In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers led by Paul Muchowski at the J. David Gladstone Institutes in San Franscisco examined the role of immune cells in HD.

J. David Gladstone Institutes, National Institutes of Health, Child Health and Development Institute Foundation, Taube-Koret Center, National Multiple Sclerosis Society

Public Release: 19-Nov-2012

Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation
Decreased kidney function leads to decreased cognitive functioning
The greater a person's decrease in renal functioning, the greater the decrease in their overall cognitive functioning, particularly abstract reasoning and verbal memory, finds a new study, the first to describe change in multiple domains of cognitive functioning in order to determine which specific abilities are most affected in individuals with impaired renal function.

NIH/National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, NIH/National Institute on Aging

Public Release: 18-Nov-2012

Nature Genetics
International team discovers likely basis of birth defect causing premature skull closure in infants
An international team of geneticists, pediatricians, surgeons and epidemiologists from 23 institutions across three continents has identified two areas of the human genome associated with the most common form of non-syndromic craniosynostosis -- premature closure of the bony plates of the skull.

NIH/National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, NIH/National Center for Research Resources

Public Release: 18-Nov-2012

Nature
Skin cells reveal DNA's genetic mosaic
The prevailing wisdom has been that every cell in the body contains identical DNA. However, a new study of stem cells derived from the skin has found that genetic variations are widespread in the body's tissues, a finding with profound implications for genetic screening, according to Yale School of Medicine researchers.

NIH/National Institute of Mental Health, Simons Foundation, State of Connecticut

Public Release: 18-Nov-2012

Nature Biotechnology
Breakthrough nanoparticle halts multiple sclerosis
In a breakthrough for nanotechnology and multiple sclerosis (MS), a biodegradable nanoparticle delivers an antigen that tricks the immune system and halts MS in mice. The approach, the first that doesn't suppress the immune system, is being tested in a clinical trial for MS patients, but with white blood cells delivering the antigen. The nanoparticle is an easier, cheaper option and can be used in other immune-related diseases including Type 1 diabetes, food and airway allergies.

Myelin Repair Foundation, National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 16-Nov-2012

Nature
DNA packaging discovery reveals principles by which CRC mutations may cause cancer
A new discovery from researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah concerning a fundamental understanding about how DNA works will produce a "180-degree change in focus" for researchers who study how gene packaging regulates gene activity, including genes that cause cancer and other diseases.

National Institutes of Health, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Public Release: 16-Nov-2012

PLOS Pathogens
Hepatitis C treatment's side effects can now be studied in the lab
Adverse side effects of certain hepatitis C medications can now be replicated in the lab, thanks to a research team led at Penn State University. The new method aids understanding of recent failures of hepatitis C antiviral drugs in some patients, and could help to identify medications that eliminate adverse effects. The findings may aid the development of safer and more effective treatments for hepatitis C and other pathogens such as SARS and West Nile virus.

National Institutes of Health, Penn State University Paul Berg Endowment

Public Release: 16-Nov-2012

Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association
Exercise benefits found for pregnancies with high blood pressure
Contrary to popular thought, regular exercise before and during pregnancy could have beneficial effects for women that develop high blood pressure during gestation, human physiology professor Jeff Gilbert said, summarizing a new study by his research team that appears in the December issue of Hypertension.

American Heart Association, National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 16-Nov-2012
GW Researcher receives grant to study parasitic worm role in bile duct cancer in Southeast Asia
Paul Brindley, Ph.D., professor of microbiology, immunology, and tropical medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, was the recipient of a $1.7 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to study the behavior of a parasitic worm, rampant in Southeast Asia, known to cause infections that contribute to liver cancer.

NIH/National Cancer Institute